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Wednesday, September 07, 2016

Dems Fume at Trump’s Outreach to Blacks

The Wall Street JournalOpinionCommentaryUnable
to defend their own dismal record at bettering black lives, liberals lash out at
the GOP candidate.By
Jason L. Riley

Donald Trump visited
a black neighborhood in Philadelphia on Friday and a black church in Detroit on
Saturday. And liberals went berserk.

If
he’d known Democrats were so fearful of GOP black outreach, perhaps Mr. Trump
wouldn’t have waited until two months before Election Day to start campaigning
in inner cities.

During
a roundtable discussion with businessmen, elected officials and clergy in North
Philadelphia, Mr. Trump listened to stories about violent crime and bad
schools.

Speaking before a congregation at the Great Faith Ministries church in
Detroit, he referenced “all those closed stores” he saw while riding through
the neighborhood “and people sitting down on the sidewalk, and no jobs, and no
activity. We’ll get it turned around.”

Mr. Trump said “nothing is more sad than
when we sideline young black men with unfulfilled potential, tremendous
potential,” and he added that safe communities and good schools would be a
priority of his administration. He called for a new civil rights agenda that
includes school choice.

For
weeks, Mr. Trump has been criticized by Team Clinton and the political left for
courting black voters while standing in front of white audiences. Now we know
such criticism was disingenuous at best.

A Clinton campaign official called Mr.
Trump’s Philadelphia visit “an offensive gimmick.” At a weekend press
conference organized by the Clinton campaign, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan
referred to the Republican presidential candidate as “the most phony major
party nominee that I have seen in my lifetime” and wondered aloud what Mr.
Trump was even doing in his city. “Are you here just to use Detroiters as props
in a re-imaging campaign?”

In
an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, who heads
the Congressional Black Caucus political-action committee, was asked whether
Mr. Trump deserved “any credit at all” for campaigning in the inner city. “It’s
not real,” said Mr. Meeks, adding that the GOP nominee has “racist tendencies”
and is trying to “con African-Americans.” The congressman called for “the types
of policies that are being talked about by Hillary Clinton”
and cited “raising the minimum wage” and “investing in historically black
colleges.” Alas, it’s Mr. Meeks and his fellow Democrats who should get real.

Unions
support minimum-wage hikes because they help limit competition from workers who
might accept lower wages and threaten union jobs. And Congressional Black
Caucus members support them in return for handsome campaign contributions from
Big Labor. However, economists generally agree that minimum-wage
mandates disproportionately harm the employment prospects of younger and
less-skilled workers, many of whom are black. A 2011 study for the Employment Policies Institute by William Even
and David Macpherson found that minimum wage hikes implemented between 2007 and
2010 cost young black men more jobs than the Great Recession did.

If
Mr. Meeks is serious about addressing the immediate education needs of black
families, calling for additional funding for historically black colleges is an
odd place to start. Some of these colleges do a fine job of educating blacks,
particularly in the fields of math and science, but the reality is that some
90% of black students don’t attend them. And given that the typical black
12th-grader is several grade levels behind his white counterpart in reading and
math, is the bigger problem the underfinancing of black colleges or a K-12
public education system that is producing so few college-ready blacks?

Hillary
Clinton and her campaign surrogates can brag about giving black communities far
more face-time than the GOP, but they can’t brag about the results of
liberal policies. Democrats are calling Mr. Trump names because they can’t
defend their track record. Homicides in Philadelphia rose last year and are up
6% this year. In 2015, Detroit students scored the lowest among big-city
school districts on national math and reading tests.

Minority
children with access to school vouchers and charter schools are narrowing the
achievement gap, while Democrats and teachers unions are working hand in glove
to limit school choice. Mrs. Clinton has adopted the provably
false union line that charters get better academic outcomes by accepting only
the most motivated students. And the new Democratic platform drafted in July
proclaims support for “high-quality public charter schools,” so long as they
don’t “replace or destabilize” traditional public schools. In other words, the
party supports charter schools so long as no one attends them.

Mr.
Trump has been polling in the low single digits among blacks, and his current
black outreach is probably too little, too late if the goal is to win
significant black support. But Democrats aren’t very concerned about the
percentage of blacks who support the Republican. Their bigger worry is the
level of overall black turnout. The political left is furious at Mr. Trump for
campaigning on their turf because he could soften support for Mrs. Clinton.
They are terrified that too many of the black voters who turned out for Barack Obama in
2008 and 2012 may decide to stay home.

Mr. Riley, a Manhattan Institute senior fellow and Journal contributor, is the
author of “Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make It Harder for Blacks to
Succeed” (Encounter Books, 2014).

I have written often about blacks’ blind loyalty to a
Democratic Party plantation system that has given them little leverage in
presidential politics and has been harmful to black America — especially the
poor.

That’s why I was so glad to see Donald Trump venture
where no Republican presidential candidate has dared to venture to “tell it
like it is” regarding the condition of urban black America; expose the “dirty
little secrets” that no black or white Democrat will talk about; and that most
black journalists and civil rights groups refuse to hold elected officials
accountable for!

So what did Trump say that is inflaming the black and
white liberal Democrat establishment and their friends in the media?

He just told the truth:

Black parents have a right to walk outside without being
shot and to a good education for their children.

Almost 4,000 have been killed in President Obama’s
hometown area since his presidency began.

Our job is not to make life more comfortable for the
rioter and looter.

Our job is to make life more comfortable for the black
parents who want their kids to be able to walk home safely from school and the
senior citizen who wants to be safe waiting for a bus.

There is no compassion in allowing drug dealers, gang
members, and felons to prey on innocent people.

The Democratic Party has betrayed the African-American
community and its crime, education, and economic policies have produced only
more crime, more broken homes, and more poverty.

And they really got upset when Trump said: “You’re living
in poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs, 58 percent of your
youth is unemployed. What the hell do you have to lose?”

Every one of these statements is true! Trump’s comments
mirror what many black conservatives have been saying for decades.

Those criticizing Trump most likely don’t live in neighborhoods within earshot
of gunshots day and night and don’t send their children to the inferior schools
that many inner city children are forced to attend.

So, when white Republican Donald Trump exposes the subtle
classism and racism of the liberal Democrat establishment, they can huff, puff,
and call him and his supporters racists all they want, but they can’t deny the
truth!

When was the last time we heard members of the
Congressional Black Caucus who represent most of these urban terror zones, the
NAACP, the National Association of Black Journalists or any black elected
official in these cities raise important issues. How many black and white
Democratic officials (until there are riots) have we heard calling for an end
to the violence and slaughter of so many, including innocent children, in gang
infested neighborhoods in Chicago, Milwaukee, Baltimore, Miami and other urban
areas?

When it takes a white Republican to step up to the plate
and tell the truth about the problems facing blacks in our cities, they are and
should be embarrassed — all of them — black and white alike!

It’s a no-win issue for Trump.

Since they can’t attack him for telling the truth, they
criticize him because he spoke to white audiences. If he had gone to a black
audience, they would have criticized him for not daring to say it in front of a
white audience because of fear of losing their votes.
It’s about time a white politician went before a white audience and spoke about
the issues of inner city America! White Democrats and Republicans have
historically not done that.

Trump did and for that he should be commended!

The only thing I would have added to Trump’s speeches
would have been to commend the great success of America’s black athletes at the
Olympics including Simone Biles in gymnastics; Simone Manuel, in swimming;
Daryl Homer, in men’s fencing; Michelle Carter in the shot put; and so many
others.

This election may be black America’s last chance for
relevance in presidential elections for decades.

They are the only voter group that does not ask their
elected officials: “What have you done for me lately.” And for that, they have
paid dearly!

If after Donald Trump’s unprecedented direct appeal for
support by a Republican Presidential candidate, 90 to 98 percent of blacks vote
for Hillary Clinton, they will get what they deserve—total, yet quiet,
disrespect from both Parties.

They could go down in history as being perfect political
examples of the “will you respect me in the morning” syndrome and be irrelevant
in Presidential politics for the next 20 years.

But, if on the other hand, 15-20 percent of a black
silent majority say “we have had enough” and vote for Trump, history will be
made and the Democrats’ chains on black America could be cut.

Clarence V. McKee is president of McKee Communications,
Inc., a government, political, and media relations consulting firm in Florida.
He held several positions in the Reagan administration as well as in the Reagan
presidential campaigns. He is a former co-owner of WTVT-TV in Tampa and former
president of the Florida Association of Broadcasters. Read more of his reports
— Go Here Now.

About This Blog & the National Black Republican Association

Lieutenant Colonel Frances Rice, United States Army, Retired is a native of Atlanta, Georgia and retired from the Army in 1984 after 20 years of active service. She received a Bachelor of Science degree from Drury College in 1973, a Masters of Business Administration from Golden Gate University in 1976, and a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of California, Hastings College of Law in 1977.
In 2005, she became a co-founder and Chairman of the National Black Republican Association, an organization that is committed to returning African Americans to their Republican Party roots.
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Email contact: NationalBlackRepublican@Gmail.com